According to estimates by UN aid workers, the devastating cyclone “Mocha” swept through areas in Myanmar with a population of 4.5 million. Of those, 3.1 million are considered particularly vulnerable because they had inadequate shelter, food and income before the tropical cyclone hit, Ramanathan Balakrishnan, the UN relief coordinator in Myanmar, said today. “It’s really a nightmare scenario,” he said in a video link from Yangon.
“On the Frontline of the Climate Crisis”
According to Balakrishnan, “Mocha” has hit the poorest parts of the country, which have previously been affected by the pandemic, internal conflict and economic problems. “Now they are also on the frontlines of the climate crisis,” he said, referring to the increasingly frequent extreme weather events that are being observed as part of global warming.
No casualties yet
Numbers of dead and injured were not yet available to the UN authorities. However, initial reports from IDP camps in the city of Sittwe in Rakhine state indicated that “no house had been spared” there, Balakrishnan said.
At least 400 people died in the tropical cyclone in Rakhine on the west coast, according to the National Unity Government. The dead are mainly members of the Muslim Rohingya minority, which has been persecuted in the predominantly Buddhist country for decades. It was the strongest cyclone to hit the region in more than a decade.